The Comparison of Various Methods of Teaching Languages

By Careemah Choong

Student ID: 2208/200514/28

Assignment Unit 1 B In fulfillment of LTTC Graduate Diploma

Instructor: Mr. Sebatian Powers

27th May 2014

Introduction

This essay will highlight various methods of language teaching. These methods are

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), Dogme Language Teaching, Grammar Translation

Method, Direct Method, and the Audio Lingual Method. It will provide the history and element

of these language teaching methods. In addition, it will highlight the advantages of each of these

language teaching methods.

Dogme Language Teaching

The Dogma language teaching movement was initiated by Scott Thornbury. In his book

“A dogma for EFL”, he proposed that published materials can stifle the communicative

approach. Dogme approach to language teaching focus on real conversations about real subjects

so that communication will be the engine of learning. This communication may in turn lead to

further communication.

The teachers and students will be freed from the constraints of the textbook. Hence, the

most significant advantage of the Dogme language teaching is it gives more freedom to the

teachers and students to conceptualize and implement more appropriate material. Furthermore; it

enables them to engage with the materials that they had brought or selected. In addition, it is

compatible with reflective teaching.

In Dogme language teaching the learners can use scaffolding to learn at their own pace.

This is because the Dogmatic approach recognizes the legitimate need and expectation of the
student’s. As communication is the center of the Dogmatic approach, it provides the students the

opportunity to analyze, internalize and practice language.

The Grammar Translation Method

The grammar translation method was popular in the 19th century in Europe. It instructs

students in grammar, and provides vocabulary with direct translations to memorize. According to

Richards, the grammar translation method focuses on the memorization of the rules in a language

of the foreign language. This is used to express their opinion and ability to understand the

remarks which is addressed to them by analyzing the text that they read.

The main advantage of the grammar translation method is the native language is

maintained as the main reference. The translations to the second language enable the student to

understand the differences between both languages quickly, especially in abstract word and

complicated sentences.

It also enables the student to understand how the mother tongue functions, in order to

give him the capacity to communicate its thought. Since the grammar translation method focuses

on phraseology of the target language such as through literacy texts, the students are able to read,

comprehend and write text in various contexts.

According to Brown the direct method focuses on grammatical rules, memorization of

vocabulary, and of various declensions and conjugations, translations of the texts, doing written

exercise. This systematic study of grammar develops the awareness of the grammatical rules that

enables students to transverse the factors of language and syntactic mechanism from the simplest

to the most complex. This enables them to manipulate the morphology and syntax to analyze and

solve problems
 The exercises in the grammar translation method are untiringly being practiced to allow

the assimilation of the rules stated in the course. That supposes that the teacher corrects the

exercises. The pupil can follow his progress in practicing the language by comparing his results.

Thus can he adapt the grammatical rules and control little by little the internal logic of the

syntactic system.

The grammatical analysis of sentences constitutes the objective of the teaching of

grammar at the school. Its practice makes it possible to recognize a text as a coherent whole and

conditions the training of a foreign language. Grammatical terminology serves this objective.

The grammar makes it possible for each one too.

Furthermore, this method enables the teacher to check the student’s understanding easily

as they could easily communicate with the students with their mother tongue. Besides that,

method enable teacher who are less fluent in the target language to teach as well.

The Direct Method

The direct method or the natural method was developed by Siegfried Engelmann and

Wesley C. Becker. This method started in Europe in 1900. It only permits the student to use the

target language. The direct method is based on the concept that a child does not rely on another

language to learn his native tongue. Therefore, the mother tongue is not necessary to learn the

other language.

It advocates the teaching of oral skills and stress on pronunciation of the targeted

languages. It concludes that; the acquisition of the 2nd language intimidates the 1st language

learning. As the direct method teachers the languages instead of making the student learn about

the language the student will feel that they learn the language naturally as they had acquired their

mother tongue.
 The language is taught though demonstration and conversation context. Therefore, the

student will attain fluency acquire the language fluency of speech; good pronunciation and

power of expression are properly developed.

The advantage of direct teaching is it develops a specific concept or skills. As it uses

realia it bonds the word with its meaning. This makes the class livelier and interesting. It makes

the assessment of the student more accurate and reliable. In addition, the student will more focus

and understands quickly as they will easily determine which part of the lesson is vital to

understand what they learn, think about it and then express their own ideas in correct English

about what they have read and learnt.

According to Macnee, "It is the quickest way of getting started". In a few months over

500 of the common English words can be learned and used in sentences. This serves as a strong

foundation for further learning. Direct method can be used for the lowest to the highest class.

The direct method develops the fluency of speech; good pronunciation and power of expression

are properly.

The Audio-Lingual Method

The audio-lingual method is based on Skinner's Behaviorism theory, which emphasize

that students can learn through the system of reinforcement. J. Richards and T. S Rodgers

(1986:47) said “The combination of structural linguistic theory, contrastive analysis, aural-oral

procedures, and behaviorist psychology led to the Audio Lingual Method. This method is used

during the World War Two to provide a crash course for the United States Army. The student

will listen and model the audio recordings. The teachers will use drill to teach structural patterns.

Have students listen to or view recordings of language models acting in situations.

 Students practice with a variety of drills and the teacher can select a mechanical drill to

have a full control of the student’s response. For example, car. This is a car. This is a van. The

educator can use meaningful drill to check student understanding and still control the response.

For example a teacher will read a sentence and the student will choose the correct response:

The teacher reads a sentence The student chooses a response

I'll get you something to eat.

I'm thirsty.

I'll get you something to drink.

I'm hungry.

Otherwise communicative drill can be applied if the teacher wants the student to provide his own

context but control the response as well. For instance,

Teacher The student completes cues

What time did you get up on Friday? I got up _____.

What did you have for lunch? I had _____.

The audio lingual develops listening and speaking skills which is a step away from the Grammar

translation method

Communicative language teaching (CLT)

Communicative Language Teaching evolved from Situational Language Teaching

(CLT).CLT is partly based on Firth and Halliday’s functional linguistic theory and the writings
of Austin and Searle speech arts, and American sociolinguists, such as Hymes, Gumperz and

Labov. According to Savignon & Berns, 1984 the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

paved its way into classrooms in the 1960’s due to criticisms on the structural theories of

language Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach evolves as a prominent language teaching

method and gradually replaced the previous grammar-translation method and audio-lingual method

(Warschauer & Kern, 2000).

One of the advantages of the CLT is it aims to encourage student’s involvement using

authentic communicative activities and material that promotes learning as well as to express

them. According to Richards & Rodgers, 2011 all the three types of materials either text-based

materials, task-based materials and realia, provides prompt and cues to build up is a

conversation. This supported by Oxford’s statement, that the “development of communicative

competence requires realistic interaction among learners using meaningful, contextualized

language” (1990, p. 8). The students will be more independent and responsible if the pair and

group work is utilized in delivering CLT due to the usage of forms and functions. (Richards&

Rodgers, 2001, p. 171)

Students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is deemed an

acceptable and beneficial form of instruction. Thus, in the classroom CLT often takes the form of

pair and group work requiring negotiation and cooperation between learners, fluency-based

activities that encourage learners to develop their confidence, role-play in which students

practice and develop language functions, as well as judicious use of grammar and pronunciation

focused activities.

The most obvious advantage in communicative language teaching is that of the increase of

fluency in the target language. This enables the learners to be more confident when interacting
with other people and they also enjoy talking more. The approach also leads to gains in the areas

of grammar, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic competence through communication

Conclusion

Language teaching essentially is linked with a particular theory of language and language

learning. Hence, within methodology a distinction is often made between methods and

approaches. Methods are held to be fixed teaching systems with prescribed techniques and

practices, and approaches are language teaching philosophies that can be interpreted and applied

in a variety of different ways in the classroom. All these language teaching methods has its

advantage, but as well as its disadvantage. The educator should select the method of teaching

according to the situation and the suitability to the students.

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